Spa Island

Although it is small in size, the country of Slovakia is rich in springs of natural healing water. This project examines the ways in which the architecture of spas allows those establishments to be spaces of ritual and community.

Spa culture has been a part of the Slovakian lifestyle for hundreds of years In 1947 a special balneological congress decided to divide the approximately 50 Slovak spa localities into three categories of importance: international importance, national importance and local importance. This project examines the ways in which the architecture of spas allows those establishments to be spaces of ritual and community.

Ritual, according to French sociologist and philosopher Émile Durkheim, is a kind of moral renewal achievable when individuals meet and together affirming common feelings. Ritual is otherwise the sacralization of society itself.

Most of spas with natural healing water are still in use in the original form. Meanwhile in 2022 the drought affected more than half of Slovakia. In some places it lasted more than 200 days. Many villages have run out of drinking water. In some places Streams and even rivers dried up. Thinking about water in a way: local, national and global is very timely in the climate crisis. The places I photographed are a kind of sanctuary's of waterallow for a intimate and therapeutic relationship with water and with the community.